Desecration of our Remains is apparant

Desecration of our Remains

In April, 2020 I wrote an article titled “Cremation or in-ground burial.”  It must have been one that got the attention of a lot of interested people concerned about the remains of our loved ones and ourselves.  It garnered over 4,000 views which says a lot about life after death, even though the remains of a deceased is void of their spirit.  

As we visited the cemetery today (Saturday before Pentecost) it was a good feeling to see so many people visiting the graves of their past relatives and/or close friends.  This shows there still is a connection of the living (the Church Militant) to those who have passed on (The Church Penitent) and the warmth in the hearts of those left to pray and say we still miss and love you.  

In my article regarding the choice of cremation over in-ground burial, my one comment was let us not bury the remembrance of our loved ones in an urn,  As my wife and I discuss this choice of so many the current opinion of too many friends and relatives leans heavily on their choice of cremation.  Of course, we cannot or should not condemn them for whatever reasons they are making this plan.  After all, it is their body and they have the freedom to do what they want.  Sounds like the pro-choice attitude of pro-abortionists.  

Let’s dissect this decision of Catholic raised and educated relatives who think this is a sound choice.  With the cost of everything around us sky-rocketing and the thought of how many future family members will not be able to visit and care for their burial plot, they may be thinking it is a choice they must make.

Look a little closer to doing what is the deeper spiritual requirement towards the human person’s remains and a quick let’s get this over with attitude.  Yes, they are dead, at least the body God ordained to be the temple of the Holy Spirit, thus becoming God’s home within each of us.  With all the care we take to find holiness in this personhood of God shouldn’t we also seek to keep the memory of those we love while alive do the same with their remains?  Now I know some will say are you some kind of nut pretending that the remains are still alive or wait for us to make a visit?  

Whether you believe in the resurrection with our bodies somehow taking on life once again at the end of time with a new body, or not, remember Jesus’ resurrected body was the same, yet different.  He could pass through closed doors as in the upper room twice.  He showed some signs of glory, yet still remained the same Chrisr.  He asked his apostles for something to eat.  On the shore, in John’s Gospel, he called to them after an all-night fishing trip with no luck.  He waited for them to reach the shore, with 153 large fish, for a ready-made breakfast.  

This body we were born with, baptized as a member of Christ’s Church, evangelized for the spread of God’s message, and was finally brought into the church as the words by the priest celebrant, “In the waters of baptism (name) died with Christ and rose with him to new life.  May he/she now share with him eternal glory.”  Doesn’t appear to be a speech over some empty vessel for the time to say goodby to a non-existence corpse.  Yes, he or she is void of the spirit once alive and being as human as we are.  It is a connection to heaven as much as this person was when the waters of baptism were poured over their head.  

The desecration I referred to is some people, in compliance with their deceased friends, have taken the ashes and spread them in the most erroneous places.  This is the last place they should be scattered, if at all.  It asks in a way why do we have a Wake, funeral procession, or even pray if they do not adhere to the sacred dimension that all human life is holy and under God’s protection.  Throwing our remains as in a dust storm totally disregards the holiness that these remains represent.

Ralph B. Hathaway